“I’ll appeal and see what happens” – Corriere di Siena
Antonio Francesco Mulà will hardly forget the Palio of 2 July 2022. Not only because it is the one of the awaited debut on the tuff, with the nickname of Shardana, but also because, in practice, he did not race it, despite wearing one of the 6 jackets that survived a game of the knockout massacre unprecedented, at least in recent centuries. The former student of Andrea Mari, deeming the move made by Renato Bircolotti invalid, instead of throwing himself onto the track, gave the impression of lingering to protest with the mover while his colleagues somehow got going. His career ended before it began, and moreover his behavior at the canape made him end up in the crosshairs of the commissioner delegated to the paliesca justice Luciano Fazzi, who after the first hypotheses of charges, with 7 days to present documented justifications, two days ago issued the sanction proposals. Mula was given a possible warning precisely because his failure to leave was considered a desire to withdraw from the Palio, an idea that goes against article 64 of the regulation.
“I prefer not to talk at the moment – he barricades himself Shardana. – There is an appeal to make, I will present it and let’s see what emerges”. Kind but firm in denying himself, it is useless to try to find out more. His defense brief, presented right after the commissioner’s first decision, tells a lot about how the rookie jockey thinks. Focusing on the move, he underlines that the horse “discards, turns first towards the second canape and then towards the verrocchio to take the race. The article intends to penalize the jockey who, with the precise and voluntary purpose of abstaining from the race or to make the jolted horse run, used while stopped by the rope or dismounts from the horse when moving. That didn’t happen. It appears clear that the undersigned was forced to stay a few seconds at the canape as the road was found completely closed and obstructed.
Going towards the verrocchio is not to be considered a disrespectful behavior towards the mossiere. Instead, it is to be considered the consequence of both the instinctive behavior of the horse and the obligatory behavior of the jockey in order to participate in the Career”. Mula “considered that the move could not be valid”, and referring to the mover He points out that “he lingered with the apparent intention of invalidating the move until, yanked by a public security official, he was transferred to another location. The undersigned understood that the departure was to be considered valid only when with the unruly horse starting and facing the verrocchio he realized that the mover would not have invalidated the move. At this point, having implemented the maneuvers to put the horse in the right trajectory, the undersigned took part in the race”.